26 July 2011

A century of changes in U.S. farms

The maternal line of my family were corn/dairy farmers at the turn of the last century (the paternal side were working the Pennsylvania railroad). The graphic above, from the Center for Research on Globalization, shows the changes that have occurred on farms during these last several generations.

Not defined at the link, but I think implicit from the curves (depending on how "average" is calculated) is that the total acreage farmed in this country has not changed substantially in a century. And total output must be markedly higher, reflecting a wide variety of changes in crops, equipment, techniques, and in efficiency from the scale of operation.

Small-scale family farms (defined as operator-owned farms with less than $250,000 in sales — which does not
mean $250,000 in profit, of course) make up 88.3% of all farms in the
U.S., while large-scale family farms (operator-owned farms with sales
over $250,000) are 9.3%.

While small-scale family farmers receive the majority of land-retirement
payments — that is, subsidies in return for taking land out of
agricultural production — large-scale family farms are the major
beneficiaries of commodity payments such as price supports that
subsidize the cost of production...

Whether farm subsidies are essential to preserving small family farms or
actually hurt them by artificially supporting capital-intensive
large-scale production is a topic of much debate within agricultural
circles.

A farmer wins a million dollars in the lottery. When asked by a reporter what he intends to do with the money? He said, "He would pay some debts." The reporter asked, "What about the rest?" The farmer replied, "They'll just have to wait."

The best use for smaller tracts is to lease them out for cattle grazing. You get an Ag exemption on your property tax and cover half of your mortgage. And have a country home you can retire to on the weekends to have a big garden and a pond the kids can catch bluegills out of. A sweet deal, one I aspire to, but a hobby farm.

I had the education of working a couple summers on a farm, and have seen my in-laws run a non hobby farm to this day. We need to de-romanticize our agricultural heritage - working on a farm REALLY sucks. It ain't little house on the prairie.

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I'm using an old photo of my grandfather as an avatar; he would have been amused.
Old friends, classmates, students, former colleagues, or distant relatives are welcome to email me via retag4726 (at) mypacks.net